Letter from the leader of a separatist community to a royal
figure detailing regulations related to purity issues & sacrifices
that distinguish his group from "the majority of the nation."
Unlike other works found at Qumran,
this text presupposes participation in the temple cult. One ruling
regarding the contamination of a vessel from which a liquid is poured
agrees with later Sadducean disputes with Pharisees. Otherwise the style
& content of progressive rulings not based on the text of Torah
resemble rabbinic halakah rather than literalistic Sadducean
principles. Unlike the Sadducees the author warns of an impending last
judgment. Since 1986 this letter has become central to the argument of
scholars who dispute the identification of the Dead Sea scrolls as
Essene works.